City stakes claim to baseball Civil Rights Game

Atlanta is making a pitch to be the permanent home of Major League Baseball’s Civil Rights Game.

Atlanta is hosting the game in 2011 and 2012, and the city with the rich civil rights history thinks baseball need not hold it anywhere else.

“We would love for the game to have a permanent station here in Atlanta,” said Derek Schiller, executive vice president of sales and marketing for the Atlanta Braves. “We think it makes great sense. MLB would like to move it around, and that’s understandable, but we have high hopes. We hope that everyone sees Atlanta as a natural, long-term destination for the game.”

The Civil Rights Game, in its fifth year, showcases baseball’s role in civil and human rights and is a jewel event for MLB, Schiller said.

The 2011 game will be played May 15 between the Braves and the defending NL East champion Philadelphia Phillies and will be televised nationally by Turner Broadcasting System Inc.

MLB is inclined to rotate the game among several cities every two years, said Jimmie Lee Solomon, MLB’s executive vice president of baseball development.

“If Atlanta embraces the Civil Rights Game in a way I know it can, then a lot of other places may shy away from it,” he said. “It could be a self-fulfilling prophecy. But the plan is to rotate the game among cities.”

Selling the city

That doesn’t mean Atlanta leaders won’t lobby hard.

Atlanta is the birthplace of civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr., and its abundant civil rights attractions include The King Center, which draws about 1 million visitors annually, and Ebenezer Baptist Church, where King was pastor. It will soon be home to the Center for Civil and Human Rights.

“This is a natural home for this event, said William Pate, Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau president and CEO. “We intend to make it so successful that there won’t be a reason for it to go anywhere else. Major League Baseball is going to be very excited to be a part of what we have to offer.”

The key will be to sell out both the game and the surrounding events, which Pate believes will happen. “It’s a package Atlanta can deliver on.”

The Atlanta Sports Council is also supporting the events “to make sure this is the most successful Civil Rights Game to date,” said Dan Corso, sports council executive director. “We’ve had a World Series, a Major League Baseball All-Star Game. This is a wonderful opportunity for us, and certainly relevant to us, given the history of civil rights in Atlanta. But we must support it to get it here permanently.”

The first Civil Rights Game was played in Memphis, Tenn., with the Memphis Red Birds as a partner, Solomon said.

Memphis is where King was assassinated, and MLB considered making that city the permanent home, but other cities began asking to host the game, he said.

Cincinnati, home of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, got the game next.

But every time MLB had a Civil Rights Game, prominent civil rights leaders from Atlanta, including Julian Bond, Andrew Young and Hank Aaron, have participated, Solomon said.

Expanding the reach

Atlanta will be the first host city to expand the game beyond just a weekend event.

“Because of being in Atlanta, and because of Atlanta’s role in civil and human rights history, we have made this year’s Civil Rights Game the most ambitious event to date,” Schiller said. “There are more events for the Civil Rights Game than have been done in the past and that is a direct reflection of Atlanta’s deep, rich history in civil rights.”

Events begin May 11 with a reception at Turner Field, but also include a two-day Selig Business Conference at the Georgia Aquarium on doing business with baseball.

The business conference had never been held in conjunction with the game, but it features “diverse business supplier opportunities throughout all 30 teams, job opportunities across all 30 teams and other outreach throughout all teams,” Schiller said.

The business conference, named for Baseball Commissioner Allan H. “Bud” Selig, will include a keynote speech from Young.

Other events include “Chasing the Dream: A Red Carpet Tribute to Hank Aaron” May 12 at The Fox Theatre, and a roundtable discussion on baseball and civil rights May 13 at Ebenezer Baptist Church.

The Civil Rights Youth Summit at Centennial Olympic Park will be May 14.

“The game and associated events will be a destination for people throughout the country and the region looking to learn more about civil and human rights and their impact in sports,” Schiller said.

MLB does not have economic impact numbers for the Civil Rights Game, but the game has sold out the past two years, Solomon said, and increased attendance at baseball games on days surrounding the actual game.

The youth summit last year garnered 6,000 children participating “and we expect even more at Centennial Olympic Park this year,” he said.

All of the associated events with the game, and Atlanta’s own civil rights history “makes the economic impact that much bigger in the city of Atlanta than potentially any other city,” Schiller said.